Dillon Giancola: My sports fandom resolutions

Dillon hasn't reached this level of obnoxious sports fandom, and he's working on making sure that doesn't happen.

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Minas Panagiotakis/ Getty Images

We all know about New Years resolutions, how popular it is to buy a gym membership and to start eating healthy and how hard it is to keep that going into February. This year, I’m choosing to make resolutions that carry less real-world weight, in hopes they’ll be easier to accomplish.

I’m talking about being a better sports fan. Not better as in watch more sports or care more, because that’s not really possible for me at this point. But better in the sense in how I conduct myself, who I root for and how.

First and foremost, I need to stop bandwagoning. Now, I’m not a traditional culprit. It’s not like I don’t have any favourite teams until the playoffs and then I’ll become a huge Calgary Flames fan or New Orleans Saints fan if they start doing good. No, I have my favourite teams and am forever loyal. But, when those teams aren’t in the mix, I want some side action, I want to pull for someone else. Last year, it was the Washington Capitals. This year early on it was the Cleveland Browns, then they got bad and I jumped off and have yet to get back on the wagon since they started winning again.

I still feel there’s nothing wrong with this tactic, but it’s not respected by the sports world, and I get too much grief for it. To have my Rams fandom questioned drives me insane. So if that means I can’t cheer for Phillip Rivers and the Los Angeles Chargers to win a Super Bowl in the case that my Rams fall short, then so be it.

Second, I tend to talk and write as if people care about how my teams are doing. Instead, I know nobody cares about the Rams, and although the Raptors are Canada’s team, I don’t know if people here know how basketball works. There’s actually a lot of Toronto Maple Leafs fans in Fort St. John, but no, Toronto already thinks they’re the centre of the universe and they don’t need sports writers in Fort St. John validating their narcissism.

The last change I’m going to make is to stop talking trash about sports. All my friends and readers know I love to do it, but I don’t take it well. When my friends rip me over the Rams laying a dud against the Chicago Bears, I mute the chat for eight hours. Then the next day I’ll make a witty comment about how I don’t know what game they’re referring to, when really I’m just a big baby who doesn’t like getting his feelings hurt.

So this weekend, I’ll watch the first round of the NFL playoffs. I won’t cheer for the Chargers, even if my heart tells me to. I won’t make fun of my friends if the Seahawks lose in hilarious fashion. I won’t bring up how the Rams are being overlooked and that really they’re going to crush it in round two, and I won’t make a big deal when Andreas Johnson gets a goal and an assist for the Leafs. ”Best third-line winger in the NHL” is a thing you won’t hear me say the week.

But you will next week, and you can bet your gym membership I’ll have three other teams to root for besides my own. Because let’s be honest — nobody ever sticks with their resolutions.

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